Tenerife–Part Two

So, here we go, part two of my holiday in Tenerife. We went on an excursion up Mount Teide, which is the volcano in the middle of Tenerife. Mount Teide is 12,198 feet tall. The very top part, where the crater is, is protected now, and you have to have special permission to go up that far now. The rest of it is still open to the public though. We went most of the way by coach, which had spectacular views. The mountain is beautiful. We continued up in a cable car, and when we got out at the top…

…it was like another planet. As volcanoes go, Teide last exploded not all that ago. A few hundred years is a blip in Geology. This means that there is still a lot of Lava around, in these strange formations, and lots of Obsidian, as the plant life hasn’t been able to take root yet. Walking around at the top was like being on the moon or something. Totally bizarre, but so, so beautiful. You can look down on the clouds too, which was quite a bizarre feeling.

• Hat from Burton
• Sunglasses from Accesorize
• Handbag by Nica, with New Look scarf
• Top of long-forgotten origin
• Shorts from New Look
• Shoes from Priceless (classy).
• Bracelet  - bespoke gift (actually classy, haha)

Excuse the cardigan shoved over my bag, we were expecting it to be a little cooler on the top of the mountain. It was, but still warm enough for short sleeves. The path was quite rocky, so I’m very glad I put these little trainers on. We watched a few people tottering along in wedges or tripping over their flip-flops. Walking around was surprisingly hard-work, because the air was so thin.

Our final, and my favourite trip was a trip out on a Catamaran. They described it as having a luxury buffet, but that turned out to be fizzy drinks and ham baguettes. It was still great though. The sea was unbelievably blue, and we were able to swim in 30ft deep water of the back of the boat. Amazing. The best part though…

These little fins poking above the water belong to a family of Short-Fin Pilot Whales. They were about six in total, I think. It was hard to tell with them moving. I was surprised by how small they were; in my head, whales are massive. This is about the clearest shot I got of the whales.

The most amazing part though was undoubtedly these two beauties. These are Bottlenose Dolphins. They swam with the boat, right in front of it and alongside, for ages, playing in the surf it created. I love dolphins, and never thought I’d be able to get so close to them in the wild. Luxury ham sandwich buffet aside, the dolphins made the trip the highlight of the holiday.

So that’s it. Tenerife. Anyone else had a good holiday recently?